Whac-A-Mole Machines Sabotaged by Orlando Programmer

An Orlando man faces charges for planting a virus in the popular Whac-A-Mole game and other titles, effectively shutting down machines all around the world. The best part: He plotted this scheme so he could have a steady stream of repairs and a constant paycheck.

Marvin Wimberly created a program that shut down Whac-A-Mole machines and over 400 other games manufactured by Bob’s Space Racers in Holly Hill, Fla. After a certain number of restarts, the machines would stop working. He was then hired to fix the machines – and took the opportunity to reinstall the virus so he would have continued business. According to Bob’s Space Racers, it cost the company $100,000. The hacker proudly boasted to two people in the company that he created this malady, but it still took them a while to figure out what was going on.

Wimberly “entrepreneurship” may cost him up to 15 years in jail under the charge of offense against intellectual property. More importantly: Those Whac-A-Mole machines are run by computers!? No wonder they keep outsmarting me!